FIRST RAL­LY­CROSS IN AFRICA

NEXT year will mark the first time that a ral­ly­cross event has taken place on the African con­ti­nent, when the Kil­lar­ney race cir­cuit in Cape Town will stage the fi­nal round of the FIA World Ral­ly­cross Cham­pi­onship.

The South African round of World RX will form the fi­nal event of next year’s cal­en­dar as part of a new mul­ti­year deal with Cham­pi­onship pro­moter, IMG.

Des Ea­som, ex­ec­u­tive man­ager of Kil­lar­ney In­ter­na­tional Race­way, said Cape Town will fund a brand-new ral­ly­cross track to host the event.

Al­der­man Ian Neil­son, the city of Cape Town’s ex­ec­u­tive deputy mayor, be­lieves that the city’s in­vest­ment in this ini­tia­tive will reaf­firm Cape Town’s sta­tus as a world-class African city.

“World­wide, mo­tor­sport is a sig­nif­i­cant gen­er­a­tor of eco­nomic ac­tiv­ity. This in turn en­ables eco­nomic growth and drives job cre­ation,” he said.

Paul Bel­lamy, World RX man­ag­ing direc­tor for IMG, said the Kil­lar­ney cir­cuit is a fan­tas­tic fa­cil­ity where IMG can cre­ate a truly sen­sa­tional sea­son-closer.